Polo Cubana… I think we had that for dinner last night.

You may recall that the Evil Monkeys were removed from my presence by the Grandparents for 10 days.  Or you may not.  I certainly do.  Ah, those peaceful, tidy ten days.

Now, you might think that I spent this time sewing.  Or (if you are Big In Japan) you might think I spent this time doing, you know, that stuff that grown-ups do when there are no Children of the Damned around… all over the house.  Sadly, in both instances you would be mistaken.  I am old.  I spent this blissful ten days alternating between frantic chore-doing and abject slothfulness in front of the TV.  Heavenly.

However, I did sew one thing.  And it was even for one of the Monkeys, which I think is pretty big of me, really.

‘Member how I was whining about not making any polo shirts this summer?  Well, I actually did make one polo-type shirt.  In fact, it was making this polo-type shirt that caused me to realize the true cubical nature of TLo.  Check it out. 

I used the custom block I drafted for TLo this spring.  My first version was a square-neck t-shirt so I had to alter the pattern to accommodate a collar.  I also was using an old long-sleeve shirt I got from my mom for the fabric and apparently I’d already used some of it for something else (I have not one clue what that was) so I didn’t have quite enough fabric.  Solution?  I made a yoke out of an awesomely matching poplin that I had in the stash.  Seriously.  Exactly the same color.  In the stash.

I would like to note that this almost never happens and you should be totally in awe of me.

Here’s the pattern with the original t-shirt on the left, the new yoke and collar on the right:

And here’s a close-up of the yoke and collar, which I did with knit on the top, poplin on the under-collar and no interfacing at all.

Here’s another cool thing: I didn’t have to do a real polo placket because of the seamed yoke.  Again, you should be envious of my mad dezign skillz, people.  Plus, for using a RTW shirt, so I didn’t have to hem the sleeves or the shirt hem.  Flippin’ genius. 

And if you’re wondering about TLo’s cubicalism, I think this pretty much says it all:

The nifty thing about drafting her own block is this:

When you put a Cube Shirt on Cube Girl, you get a nice flattering fit.  Go figure.

 

(That’s a First Day Of School crown on her head.  Everyone’ll be wearing them this year.  You’re jealous, right?)

Take Me To Cube-a

Despite her predictions to the contrary, TLo made it through the first day of school in the Big School.  First grade is so stressful, isn't it?  It sure is for me (it’s all about me, after all).  I'm trying to clothe TLo appropriately without having to make a dozen polo shirts (which I still find boring as hell).  

Luckily, I inherited 15 polo shirts from my friend's daughter who moved up to Junior High this year.  She's no longer required to wear polo shirts and I'm guessing (based on the look of sheer ecstasy she gave me when she handed over the shirts) that she won't be wearing polo shirts ever again in her life.  I can't say I blame her.

Now this girl wears, as might be expected of someone going into the 7th grade, a misses size small or a size 0 depending on the sizing system.  Regardless, they're misses shirts.  So why did I accept them?  Because, of course, they were free.  I figured I would just hold on to them until my kids approached 5th or 6th grade and see what happened.

Then a few days before school I had the thought that maybe I should just try these shirts on the kids.  You know, as a way to avoid making polo shirts myself.  Which I hadn't bothered to start doing.  The week before school started.  I mean, how bad could they be?  I'm sure lots of first graders wear women's shirts to school, right?  I was going to try them out.

Or more specifically, I decided to try them on TLo, who wears a size 12 shirt in shoulder width.  And a size 5 in length.  You know, not a "pear" or an "apple" or a "Y" or an "A".... no, she's a Cube.

And behold!  A women's size small polo shirt from Land's End makes the perfect polo dress for a cubical six year old. 

And even more surprisingly, a size 0 polo shirt from Aeropostale  makes the perfect polo dress for a cylindrical seven year old. 

Whoda thunk?

So now we have a lot of polo dresses.   And I didn't have to make a single one of them.

Um.  Of course, we have no appropriately-colored bike shorts for a cubical six year old to wear under the perfect polo dresses.

Guess what I'm doing this week?

Vacationoid

Well, my summer vacation is over.  We saw some stuff.  We ate some food.  We lounged around.  Now, school’s started and I’m back at work.  Yay.  Work.

In the immortal words of Princess Vespa: “He shot my hair!”

Hmmph.  I know just how she feels.